One of the biggest internet service providers in the world has landed in Montgomery in what could be a major milestone for the city’s tech movement.

Global ISP giant Hurricane Electric announced Monday that it has launched its first point of presence in Alabama at the RSA Dexter Avenue Data Center. Hurricane will offer up to 100 gig Ethernet connections to businesses, schools, government entities and others.

The company operates the world’s largest Internet Protocol version 6 network.

“Hurricane Electric is delighted to extend its global network to help support the many businesses and government organizations that make up Montgomery’s economy,” Hurricane Electric President Mike Leber said. “As Alabama steadily cultivates a growing IT industry, we’ve seen a strong rise in demand for affordable high-speed internet transit in the state.”

The state’s first internet exchange, MGMix, launched last year as a collaboration between the city, the county, area universities, Maxwell Air Force Base and the Air Force Cyber College. In less than a year, it has passed similar hubs in Miami, Nashville, Tennessee, and Jacksonville, Florida, to become the No. 2 busiest exchange in the Southeast in terms of data volume, Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said.

While California-based Hurricane Electric doesn’t offer residential internet service, the company’s arrival is “a big deal for the exchange,” city-county Chief Technology Officer Lou Ialacci said. Aside from the fact that they expand the offerings available to businesses and institutions here, their announcement could bring even more tech to the area.

“I hope so,” Ialacci said. “We’re dealing in technologies, and we’re dealing with large entities … these folks are competitive and they’re looking for business opportunities.”

Other members of MGMix include Akamai Technologies, Wide Open West, Troy Cablevision, Camellia Communications, Southern Light, Packet Clearing House and Verisign. ISPs can connect to the hub to offer faster speeds for their customers, and it allows local institutions to share data virtually instantly.

Strange said at its launch that he expects the hub to eventually have a bigger impact on the area's economy than Hyundai's $4.8 billion. Retirement Systems of Alabama CEO David Bronner at the time called the hub a fourth "leg" for Alabama's economy, comparing it to the beginnings of auto manufacturing, downtown redevelopment and golf tourism.